HM Prison Manchester is a high-security male prison in Manchester, England, operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. It is a local prison, holding prisoners remanded into custody from courts in the Manchester area and Category A prisoners.

HM Prison Manchester was known as Strangeways, after the area in which it is located, until it was rebuilt following a major riot in 1990 and is still commonly referred to as such.

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Construction of the Grade II listed prison was completed in 1869, and it was opened on 25 June 1868, to replace the New Bailey Prison in Salford, which closed in 1868. The prison, designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1862 with input from Joshua Jebb,[1] cost £170,000, and had a capacity of 1,000 inmates. Its 234 feet (71 m) ventilation tower (often mistaken for a watchtower) has become a local landmark.[2] The prison's walls, which are rumoured to be 16 feet thick, are said to be impenetrable either from inside or out.

The prison has an element of the panopticon with its plan in the form of a star or a snowflake, with two blocks housing ten wings that emanate from a central core where the watchtower is situated.[3] The prison consists of two radial blocks branching from the central core with a total of ten wings (A, B, C, D, E, F in one block, and G, H, I, K in the second).[4]

The gaol was built on the grounds of Strangeways Park and Gardens, from which it was named. Strangeways was recorded in 1322 as Strangwas from the Anglo-SaxonStrang and gewæsc meaning "[a place by] a stream with a strong current".

The prison was open to male and female prisoners until 1963 when the facility became male-only, and in 1980 it began to accept remand prisoners. As of 2005 the prison held more than 1,200 inmates.

Originally, the prison contained an execution shed in B wing and after World War I a special execution room and cell for the condemned criminal was built. Strangeways was one of the few prisons to have permanent gallows.[2] The first execution at Strangeways was that of twenty-year-old murderer Michael Johnson who was hanged by William Calcraft on 29 March 1869.[5]

Twenty-nine hangings took place over the next twenty years and 71 took place in the 20th century, bringing the total number to 100. During the second half of the century, the number of executions decreased, with no hangings between 1954 and 28 November 1962, when James Smith was executed. John Robson Walby (alias Gwynne Owen Evans), one of the last two people to be hanged in England, was executed here on 13 August 1964. Out of the 100 hangings, four were double hangings, while the rest were done individually. The "quickest hanging" of James Inglis in seven seconds, carried out by Albert Pierrepoint, took place here.[6]

Mary Ann Britland (38) was executed on 9 August 1886 for the murder of two family members and her neighbour. She was the first woman to be executed at the prison. John Jackson was executed on 7 August 1879. Thom Davies was hanged on 9 January 1889 for sexual deviancy charges. Lieutenant Frederick Rothwell Holt was hanged on 13 April 1920 for the murder of twenty-six-year-old Kathleen Breaks. Louie Calvert was hanged on 24 June 1926.[2]

Doctor Buck Ruxton was executed on 12 May 1936 for the murder of his wife. A petition for clemency was signed by 10,000 people, both sympathetic locals with high regard for this "people's doctor" and abolitionists who mounted a large demonstration on the day of his execution. Margaret Allen was hanged on 12 January 1949 by Albert Pierrepoint for the murder of an elderly widower. Her execution was the first of a woman in Britain for twelve years.[2] and the third execution of a woman at Strangeways.

The bodies of executed criminals were buried in unmarked graves within the prison walls, as was the custom. During prison rebuilding work in 1991, the remains of 63 executed prisoners (of which 45 were identifiable) were exhumed from unmarked graves in the prison cemetery[9] and cremated at Blackley Crematorium in Manchester. The cremated remains were re-interred in two graves (plot C2710 and C2711) at the adjacent cemetery.[10][11]

The following people were hanged at Manchester Prison between 1869 and 1964.

Michael Johnson for the murder of Patrick Nurney March 29th 1869

Patrick Durr for the murder of his wife, Catherine December 26th 1870.

Michael Kennedy for the murder of his wife, Ann December 30th 1872

William Flanagan alias Robinson for the murder of Margaret Dockerty December 21st 1876

John M'Kenna for the murder of his wife, Annie March 27th 1877

George Pigott for the murder of Florence Galloway February 4th 1878

James McGowan for the murder of his wife November 19th 1878

William Cooper for the murder of Ellen Mather May 20th 1879

William Cassidy for the murder of his wife, Rosemary Ann February 17th 1880

John Aspinall Simpson for the murder of Ann Ratcliffe November 28th 1881

Robert Templeton for the murder of Betty Scott February 13th 1882

Abraham Thomas for the murder of Christiana Leigh*** February 12th 1883

Thomas Riley for the murder of Elizabeth Alston** November 26th 1883

Kay Howarth (a male) for the murder of Richard Dugdale November 24th 1884

Harry Hammond Swindells for the murder of James Wild November 24th 1884

Between 1 April and 25 April 1990, 147 staff and 47 prisoners were injured in a series of riots by prison inmates. There was one fatality among the prisoners, and one prison officer died from heart failure.[12] Much of the old prison was damaged or destroyed in the rioting. Several inmates were charged with various offences, and Paul Taylor and Alan Lord faced a five-month trial as ringleaders.

The riots resulted in the Woolf Inquiry, and the prison was rebuilt and renamed Her Majesty's Prison, Manchester. Repair and modernisation cost more than £80 million after the riot, and rebuilding was completed in 1994.[13]

The prison is a high-security category A prison for adult males and has a maximum capacity of 1269 as of 4 August 2008. Operation of the prison was put out to tender in 1994 and 2001.[4] Accommodation is divided into nine wings in two radial blocks. Cells are a mixture of single and double occupancy, all having in-cell power points and integral sanitation.

The prison has been noted for a high suicide rate following its reopening in 1994. From 1993 to 2003, Strangeways prison had the highest number of suicides among inmates than any other prison in the United Kingdom[14] and 2004, Strangeways had the highest number of suicides in the country.[15]

Ian Brown, rock singer gaoled for "air rage", released in December 1999.[18]

Dale Cregan, held there on remand whilst awaiting trial for the murders of Mark Short, David Short, Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone. He is also accused of the attempted murders of Michael Belcher, Ryan Pridding John Short and Sharon Hark.[19] He is now serving a life sentence in the prison after being convicted.

Emily Davison, Suffragette, sentenced to a month's hard labour in 1909 after throwing rocks at the carriage of chancellor David Lloyd George. Hunger strike led to force feeding. Blockaded herself in her cell and sued Strangeways for using a water cannon.

David Dickinson, TV presenter specialising in antiques, imprisoned for fraud in pre-celebrity days.[20]

'Mad' Frankie Fraser (1982) was held on 'A' Wing and excused boots for supposed fallen arches.

Eric Allison (1970) went on to be The Guardian Prison Reporter and author of A Serious Disturbance, an account of the Strangeways Riot. A chapter of Eric's book was written by former Strangeways Hospital Officer John G. Sutton.

The song "Fallowfield Hillbilly", from the album St. Jude by Manchester band The Courteeners, refers to Strangeways and the type of people that "indie snobs" perceive to be its inmates.

In the comic Hellblazer, issue 34 (October 1990), the main character John Constantine refers to Strangeways prison "exploding with [excrement] and blood," and describes its holding cells as "Victorian pressure cookers" into which government officials who turn a blind eye should be squeezed to "see what pops out of [their] pimple."

In the book Pollen by Mancunian author Jeff Noon two of the central characters visit Strangeways in order to speak to a prisoner. The prison has become a "Virtual" (sic) prison, where the inmates are kept locked in drawers on large amounts of a psychoactive drug that puts them into a permanent, pleasant dreamlike state.

Strangeways was the name of the "prison cat" in the 1960 movie Two-Way Stretch, a comedy set inside a fictitious Manchester Prison which starred Peter Sellers, Lionel Jefferies and Wilfrid Hyde-White.

Strangeways' Screw is a track from the album 'Seriously Disturbed' by 2hatJohn'.

John Strangways, Lieutenant-Commander Retired. Her Majesty's Royal Navy Reserves, was MI6's Regional Control Officer for the Caribbean in Ian Fleming's novels of MI6 secret agent James Bond, first appearing in 'Live and Let Die' (1954), and then killed in 'Dr. No' (1958). He bore a striking resemblance to the 'man in the black eye patch', introduced to Hathaway shirt advertising by David Olgilvie in 1951. The Albert Broccoli movies bore only tangential resemblance to Fleming's stories; his eye patch was jettisoned by the filmmakers.